One book tells the story of Kashmiri women waging a decades-long search for their disappeared loved ones. Another examines how history, politics and local events shaped one of South Asia’s longest conflicts. A third tells the story of democracy under threat in Kashmir, by a journalist who saw it unravel.
These and 22 other books have been banned by authorities in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir, the disputed borderland that India and Pakistan have fought over for more than three-quarters of a century.
In announcing the list on Tuesday, the federally appointed government of the Indian-administered region called the works “secessionist literature” that were “disguised as historical or political commentary” but promoted a “culture of grievance, victimhood and terrorist heroism.”
The order makes it illegal to circulate, possess or access the texts in the valley, under threat of years in prison. How well it can be enforced is unclear, however, given that many of the works can be accessed online or bought outside Kashmir.
Still, authors of the outlawed books and analysts described the ban as the latest move in India’s long-running attempts to muzzle free expression in a region that has endured decades of conflict and insurgency, and a symbol of the tightening repression in Kashmir since it was stripped of its autonomy in 2019.
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